The event of your Letterbox
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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there was two main methods for delivering instructions; senders can be necessitated to bring their mail with a Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post through the community. In order to distinguish himself, also to make his presence known, the Bellman might wear a uniform and sound familiar.
It what food was in 1852 the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, using a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were attached to Jersey to understand the new system.
The success from the experiment triggered yet another four being placed on Guernsey, one of these now forms part of the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing for the mainland at the time of 1853.
However, there was clearly up to now no universal pillar box design that we're currently familiar. Design and manufacture was with the discretion of local authorities, plus it is at 1859 that attempts were created to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits became the favoured option over vertical ones, and had become the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the original included the addition of the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, the box ended up being to be for sale by 50 % sizes; a larger and wider size for highly populated areas, along with a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes didn't receive universal acclaim. It was from the backdrop of these criticism how the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This read more prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to make another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this became not only a huge success therefore, another design started in 1879. This final design will be the one with which were accustomed to today. It was a couple of years prior to this the iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before now, preferred colour option was green as a way to blend in with the green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints that this structures were to tough to locate due to their camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was the best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for 10 years.
For the population most importantly, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail with ease. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to some delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.